About 5,000 customers were without a water supply this afternoon caused by a power outage at the Killmallock Water Treatment Plant on the River Sow.
Districtsaffected included Ballymurn, Glenbrien, Curracloe, Oylegate, Crossabeg, Oulart and The Ballagh. The matter has been resolved.
In North Wexford there will be a water outage affecting Ballymoney and Tara Hill tomorrow (Sunday) as Wexford County Council staff repair a burst watermain at Ballymoney close to the booster pump station.
The final point-to-point fixture of 2021 took place at Dromahane, Co. Cork on Thursday with an extended nine-race card due to super entries and Wexford raiders made the journey and collected some well-deserved prizemoney.
MICHAEL GOFF enjoyed a Christmas/New Year success in Cork.
Barry O’Neill won the Open Race on Mighty Stowaway for Gordon Elliott with four lengths to spare and the four-times champion rider embarks on 2022 with 22 victories, five ahead of his neighbour Rob James who is on the 17 winner mark.
Monageer handler Michael Goff brought his handling career total to 60, five of them this season, in his nine years of training when Rouge de L’Quest scored by two and a half lengths with Tom Hamilton up in division two of the maiden race for five-year-old geldings. The winner carried the familiar colours of Caitriona Goff.
John C. Byrne, who is based in the Kilmore area, was owner and handler of Young Darleen, who led from two out to take the maiden race for five- and six-year-old mares. This was the twelfth career winner for Cleariestown rider Barry Stone, three of them coming in the current season.
The 2022 point-to-point scene is unsettled following the difficulty in securing insurance cover following the withdrawal of underwriters from the market and already two planned fixtures at Tinahely on January 9th and Ballycrystal on January 16th have been cancelled.
A man in his 30s was airlifted from the scene of a road traffic collision on the N30 Clonroche-New Ross road near the junctions for Palace and Poulpeasty.
The single vehicle incident occurred around 12.30pm today and the sole occupant was taken by Air Ambulance to the trauma centre at Tallaght Hospital, Dublin. His condition was described as “serious but stable.”
The scene of a single vehicle road traffic collision at Palace on the N30 Clonroche-New Ross road which occurred earlier today.
Emergency services from the National Ambulance Service Wexford, New Ross Fire Service, New Ross Gardaí and the Air Ambulance Helimed 92 from Cork attended the scene.
The road was closed this afternoon and diversions were in place to allow forensic investigators examine the scene.
It has been raining steadily for most of today and is still falling tonight and reports have reached WexfordLocal.com that the road from Baldwinstown to Bridgetown is now heavily flooded and the canal is rising quickly in Bridgetown.
Cllr Jim Codd said Council response teams are already on site with sandbags. They will continue to closely monitor the situation in Bridgetown and Duncormick over the night. ““There is a lot of surface water and flooding in places so please drive carefully and avoid unnecessary travel. Please avoid driving in the area if at all possible,” he said.
Excess water is reported on the Duncannon line in places and flooding occurring on the Murrintown to Bridgetown Road, Murrintown village, Longridge, the Mill Lane in Bridgetown, Larkins Cross to Taghmon, Twelveacre to Killinick, Kilcavan, Duncormick to Rathangan, Dunphys Bridge in Rathangan and Bridgetown to Baldwinstown.
Serious damage to property in the south Wexford areas of Bridgetown, Kilmore Quay and Rathangan was caused by the Christmas Day deluge and several loaded skips of personal and household belongings have been taken away as householders and businesses count the cost.
Cllrs Jim Codd, Tom Forde, Fionntán Ó Súilleabhain, Leonard Kelly and Jackser Owens have called for a Special Meeting of Wexford County Council under Section 4 of Standing Orders to discuss the worst flooding in living memory in south Wexford. The request has been granted and is scheduled for next Wednesday afternoon.
CLLR JIM CODD looks out over the canal and adjoining submerged lands at Lakelands, Kilmore Quay, last Tuesday evening.
Thousands of acres of land adjoining the canal were flooded and hundreds of acres of winter cereal crops were destroyed. Deputy Paul Kehoe and Cllr Jim Moore met with local landowners, President of the IFA Tim Cullinan and Wexford County IFA personnel at the flooding site in the Kilmore area.
Deputy Kehoe said; “I spoke with the Ministers for Agriculture Charlie McConologue TD and Martin Heydon TD. I will be continuing to fight to get some compensation package.”
In case of an emergency call Wexford County Council Emergency line on 1890 666 777.
Road closure measures have been enacted by Wexford County Council following the destruction of Kilcarbery Bridge during the infamous Christmas Day flooding episode which also damaged properties in the area.
The final road bridge on the River Boro on its way to the Slaney, Kilcarbery has a long and distinguished industrial history and the old mill buildings are prominent landmarks in a valley near Enniscorthy.
Flood damage at Kilcarbery Bridge over the River Boro.
Part of the stone parapet crashed into the river.
The earliest known history of Kilcarbery Mills is that they existed as far back as 1610 and belonged to the Sparrow family. Before Thomas Sparrow died in 1837 the property were purchased by Francis Davis who reorganised the property and commenced an expansion programme.
In 1826, a double wing was added, six stories high used for flour dressing and further extensions took place in 1855, but the prominent square stone-built edifice with the immortal stone tablet inscription ‘F.D. 1875’ completed a complex of milling activity.
When the Davis family moved its milling operations to Enniscorthy the Mills were sold to the committee of Enniscorthy Asylum (later St. Senan’s Hospital) in the late 1890’s and supplied electricity until the Electricity Supply Board took over in the 1930s. The Kilcarbery water powered turbines produced voltage carried across the River Slaney to supply power.
Later Kilcarbery Mills were rented to Col. Lofus Bryan of Borrmount Manor and a successful tobacco rehandling station operated until the Department of Agriculture ordered the suspension in 1939.
In 1945 the Davis name was back in Kilcarbery when the property was sold by Wexford County Council and it was used by the Co. Wexford Beekeepers Co-Operative Society at a time when four fifths of Ireland’s honey supply was produced in Co. Wexford who had 600 beekeepers at the time.
Kilcarbery Mills is privately owned and is a great landmark with an amazing industrial past. And the adjoining River Boro was once a haven for local anglers with seasonal quantities of salmon and trout caught and cooked to feed families in poor times.
Part of the original Kilcarbery Bridge is visibly as floods decimate the structure in the Christmas Day floods.
The land around Wilton Castle was my playground growing up. On lazy Sunday afternoons we would leisurely peruse the ruins and roam freely and George Windsor never minded as we used to harvest his raspberries every August. The golden rule was simple – do not damage anything.
Picking the raspberries was a community event. A couple of dozens of us locals would spend the few weeks picking and chatting and sometimes, we would dip in the River Boro when high jinks kicked in. Wonderful memories.
The famous bridge at Wilton collapsed during last weekend’s weather event. Stonework of the original bridge can be been for the first time since 1947.
The Christmas Day inundation wrecked Wilton Bridge and when I visited on Tuesday a local man showed me the original stonework way down in the fallen remains of the current bridge. The original was one of those stone bridges, and a small number still exist!
Another local said the bridge was washed away in the floods of 1947 and it happened on St. Patrick’s Day. It was rebuilt, but it has been getting attention over the years and there was a recent investment of almost €50,000!
This is not the first time that Wilton has been in the news. The Furlongs and the Butlers were there since 1247. The Alcock family arrived in 1695, the castle was burned in 1923, and today, the windows are once again illuminated as Wilton Castle is a tourism accommodation facility.
Wilton was famous for its horseless carriage proceeding in ghostly fashion towards the castle on a specific day every year. It looks like the ‘ghost’ has returned, and while the engineers and the experts probe the fallen masonry, another group will crunch the maths, but it looks like normal travel between Bree and Davidstown will be a diversionary tactic for some months to come…
It was heartbreaking to walk through the village of Bridgetown and observe people’s possessions either sitting outside their homes or piled high on lorry-sized skips awaiting collection having been devastated by the torrential Christmas Day rainfall that created flooding across large parts of Co. Wexford.
The clean-up has days to go, the horror inflected on the local population will be a talking point for generations and fears for the future are evident. “I would be afraid of this happening again,” said one elderly resident, and another asked; “Could it be possible that this is the beginning of things to come at regular intervals?”
And this was two days after the worst weather event to hit south Wexford in living memory. Cllr Jim Codd said; “The people are devastated here. Their Christmas ruined. People trapped in submerged car parks.
In our attached audio clip, Cllr Codd explains the scenario that descended on Bridgetown and other areas in south Wexford before taking me to the Big Bridge of Ballaburn where we gazed at a waterlogged landscape as far as the eye could see in all directions.
AUDIO ADDITION; CLLR JIM CODD tells DAN WALSH about severe flooding in the Bridgetown district and outlines what happens next?
Local resident Ollie Daly with Cllr Jim Codd and his children, Moira and Siobhán, at the clean-up in Bridgetown village today.
Hundreds of low-lying acres of land are covered by water with the pumping station on the canal unable to handle the volume of water. Winter crops are already devastated.
Local resident Leslie Bates told WexfordLocal.com that his 86 years old mother never remembers such flooding and devastation in her lifetime. “We have got bits of flooding over the years but never anything like this,” he added.
AUDIO ADDITION; Local resident LESLIE BATES talks to DAN WALSH about flooding on the low-lying landscape of south Wexford today.
Leslie Bates and Cllr Jim Codd reflect on hundreds of acres of land flooded in south Wexford.
Cllr Codd is calling for better flood defences for Bridgetown, Duncormick and Wellingtonridge and he is urging TDs for Wexford to release funds to make these areas safe. “Substantial investment is required for drainage,” he concluded.
The man in his 20s who died in a two-vehicle road traffic collision at Ballintore, between The Harrow and Ferns, at approximately 5.20pm on St. Stephen’s Day has been named locally as John Power.
JOHN POWER
The deceased was the sole occupant of the first car. The driver of the second vehicle, a woman in her 50s, and seriously injured was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin where her condition is described as critical.
Gardaí are appealing to any road users who were travelling in the area at the time and may have camera footage.
Anyone with any information should contact Enniscorthy Garda Station on (053) 9233534, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
“Housing is top of the list for 2022 and that’s a promise to the people of North Wexford,” Cllr Joe Sullivan told the members at the December meeting of Gorey-Kilmuckridge Municipal District Council held at Gorey Courthouse in line with Covid-19 guidelines. Cllr Pip Breen was in the Chair.
There were a serious discussion regards the current unsatisfactory housing situation in the Gorey-Kilmuckridge district with all members present united in the strongly held views that Wexford County Council’s role in housing is far from satisfactory and is calling for immediate urgent action on resolving the crisis.
Cllr Joe Sullivan expressed his sheer frustration and anger at trying to help two families in Gorey for the past two years. “I have no one to listen to me. The eldest child will be eighteen shortly and that child has never known what it is like to have a home. I have been dealing with that family for two years and I am getting nowhere. Is it me or is it the system? I don’t know,”
Cllr Andrew Bolger had checked earlier in the day and was informed that there were only two units in Gorey town. Cllr Bolger supported Cllr Sullivan and he was experiencing an analogous situation. So, too was Cllr Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin.
CLLR JOE SULLIVAN and CLLR ANTHONY DONOHOE.
Cllr Mary Farrell said; “We are using words like horrendous, frustrated, distressed, heartbreak. It seems to be ongoing. When are we going to get to the end of this? Who makes the decision when families are in crisis? What are the criteria? Everyone deserves a roof over their head but there must be some guidelines as to how decisions are made. As a Council we have to do something about this!”
Cllr Donal Kenny agreed with his colleagues and the frustration that is out there, but he explained meeting up with colleagues from Carlow and Wicklow. “There are an awful lot of houses being built in Wicklow and they are happy enough, they are a year or two ahead of us. We all know we have sites, but we are not getting the shovel into the ground.”
Cllr Anthony Donohoe said he recognised the existence of hardship cases but did not question the staff criteria they are following to give out the houses. “The whole problem is we just don’t have enough houses. We are meeting our housing needs by buying turnkeys on the private market which is a completely distorted market that is displacing the young working couple – the young chap working in the tile centre and the girlfriend who is working in the deli – who cannot get off the Council’s list and are not earning enough to open a bank account
“We are driving up the private housing market on them by buying turnkeys. I would like to see us stop the practice of buying turnkeys, develop our own properties, develop our own lands, deliver our own houses, and leave the private market to the private market,” concluded Cllr Donohoe.
A man in his 20s has died following a two-vehicle road traffic collision that occurred at Ballintore, near Ferns, at approximately 5.20pm yesterday.
The deceased was the sole occupant of the first car. His body was taken from the scene to University Hospital Waterford where a post mortem will take place.
The driver of the second vehicle, a woman in her 50s, and seriously injured was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin where her condition is described as critical.
The road is closed and local diversions are in place.
The road will remain closed overnight and gardaí say the examination of the scene will begin tomorrow morning at first light.
Gardaí are appealing to any road users who were travelling in the area at the time and may have camera footage.
Anyone with any information should contact Enniscorthy Garda Station on (053) 9233534, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda Station.
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